Tuesday, January 23, 2007

Still Another Actor Acting Out His Prejudices

Conservatives have long held the view that Hollywood is full of bleeding heart liberals who are destroying our culture despite the clear evidence that there have been and still are very prominent conservative actors. The hypothesis that Hollywood is full of liberals should mean, among other things, that they find ethnic and racial slurs offensive. First we had a White Catholic engaging in anti-Semitic slurs in Mel Gibson. His excuse is that he was drunk. Then came Michael Richards, a Jew engaging in anti-Black slurs. His excuse was that he was thrown into a rage due to cat calls coming from a couple of Black men in the audience. I blogged on this topic earlier, noting that these slurs are not plucked out of the air but come from within and clearly express an underlying prejudice so strong that it overwhelms one's mental monitor/filter, the monitor/filter that keeps us out of trouble like this. Clearly, being drunk or in a rage creates problems for the monitor but no less clearly we are hearing something truthful about how these men feel about the groups in question.

And now, we have a Black, Isaiah Washington, who is a star on Grey's Anatomy, who has twice now engaged in verbal gay bashing. ABC and its parent organization, Disney, have expressed their unhappiness with their actor. In the first instance, Washington used the slur against a fellow actor on the set of the program. I have heard nothing about his being drunk, his being on drugs, or his being in a rage. Apparently Washington has a very poor monitor/filter or a very strong case of homophobia. This followed or preceded a brief fight between Washington and Patrick Dempsey, who is not the actor Washington bashed. This forced the target of his attack to come out of the closet, something he may not have wanted to do. Washington apologized.

And now, at the Golden Globes, the cast of the show was interviewed back stage after winning an award and Washington, it seems, moved to the microphone and denied he had used the slur -- contradiction alert! -- while using it. That is like saying, "I didn't say "fag/queer/whatever"' which constitutes a second contradiction in that if he didn't use it, how did he know which slur he used. Then comes another actor, this time the lovely Katherine Heigl repudiating Washington's claim that he hadn't used the slur and then the actor he slurred appeared on the Ellen DeGeneres show disputing Washington's denial. It could be that Washington was drunk when interviewed after the show won the award since booze seems to flow freely at the Golden Globes, which is probably the secret of the success of the show -- the actors lose some of their inhibitions.

Washington then fired his publicist -- what in hell did that person have to do with this? Feed him the slur? Feed him the denials of an action that was done in front of the cast? Maybe the publicist told him it would be best to lie. If so, the guy would fit in nicely at the White House.

Disney, we have a problem. You have a very popular show. The male lead, to the degree that there is one, got in a fight with Washington. Strike one. Washington then did his gay bashing bit in regard to a second cast member. Strike two. Washington then apologized. Ball one. Then he denies that he engaged in use of the slur while using the word at issue. Strike three. He's out. He apologized again, again seeming to acknowledge that he had used the word the first time despite his denial at the Golden Globes. We have a homophobe and liar who has fought one cast member, used a verbal slur directed toward a second cast member, and been denounced by a third cast member. Now, except for Washington, the cast consists of professionals. and so they may be able to hide their distaste for Washington. Poor Sandra Oh. She is his main squeeze on the show. How does Washington feel about orientals?

By the way, if you ever need surgery, you need to go to the Seattle Hospital these doctors practice their craft at. They are each the best in their fields. Can't beat being the best.